op-ed What we learn when they mess up

Author: Rodrigo Seira

This past month was not an easy one for politicians. On March 10, The New York Times broke the story that linked New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to a prostitution ring, forcing him to resign only a few days later. On March 24, there came a second sex scandal as Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice after his denial of an extramarital affair. The three remaining presidential candidates also had some bruising moments during March as McCain misspoke in Iraq, Obama faced some tough questions about his pastor and CBS called out Clinton for her fake Bosnia story. Well, my mom always told me to learn from my mistakes but this March I think we should all learn from theirs.

The Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, was the first of the candidates to stumble during his much-publicized Iraq trip. During a trip intended to highlight his foreign policy expertise, McCain repeatedly misidentified some of the key players in the Iraq war. It wasn't until Senator Joseph Lieberman whispered in his ear during a live statement that McCain corrected himself.

While this story was largely overshadowed by other scandals, it does raise some questions. McCain's slip was surely not due to inexperience - so what happened? Some might argue that it was just a simple, thoughtless, mistake, but could it be that he had a "senior moment?" McCain is quick to remind the voters of his years of experience, but those years also add up to an age of 71. If elected, he would be the oldest president to ever take office, and mistakes like this makes me a little worried of what that age might imply.

The Democratic frontrunner, Barack Obama, had perhaps the worst month of his campaign. "Inflammatory" speeches given by Obama's former pastor became public and forced Obama to answer tough questions about their relationship. In an attempt to publicly distance himself, and in order to bring closure to the matter, Obama gave his now-famous race speech. While the speech had overall positive reviews - and almost four million YouTube views - Obama's troubles were not over. His "typical white woman" remark sparked further controversy and divisiveness for a candidate that preaches unity.

However, the latest - and possibly greatest - misspeak of the month was provided to us courtesy of Hillary Clinton. In several speeches and interviews this past month, Clinton repeatedly told the story of her visit to Bosnia as First Lady. She had claimed that while arriving at the airport, she was forced to run for cover under the threat of sniper fire, a story that didn't seem to check out. CBS was quick to rebroadcast their old coverage of the visit that shows a young, smiley Clinton posing for pictures and talking to a little girl on the tarmac. They couldn't even resist adding Clinton's obviously false description of the events on the bottom corner. After initially defending her position Senator Clinton gave up and told voters that she "misspoke" blaming it on sleep deprivation and tiredness.

So what did we learn from their mistakes? From Spitzer and Kilpatrick, the lessons should be pretty obvious - no hookers, no affairs and if you happen to get caught, please don't make your wife stand next to you at the press conference. As for the candidates, the lessons might me more valuable. McCain is supposed to be the war veteran that is going navigate our way through this foreign policy mess. But is he too old? Obama markets himself as a new type of politician - one that supersedes divides and does not partake in the old style of politics. But if these last weeks have taught us anything is that at his core he is still well … a politician and susceptible to the same divisive influences. As for Clinton, her campaign has been built around the claim that she has the vast experience needed to lead this country. The Bosnia stumble is simply the latest development in a series of blows suggesting that she might not be that experienced. These misspeaks seem to hurt every candidates' strength, a combination that has proven to be deadly. The question now becomes who can do the best damage control?

Rodrigo Seira '11 is from Boulder, Col.